GM Tarondor's Ptolus Campaign

Game Master Tarondor

"Glitterdust is golden" - heheh :) I agree with Tarondor's spell suggestions as well.

Yes, I'm good with arcane caster if that's the remaining gap. I would probably go Sorceror as I think that will be easier to keep track of than a Wizard. Although if we have a Bard and a Bloodrager, do we need a full arcane caster?

Are we looking to be all a bit stealth-capable or not? (I saw the GM's notes about not being squishy.)

I will try to get a character sorted soon though am out part of this evening and tomorrow evening. Work last/this week has been tough due to some staffing changes and election fallout, so I haven't had as much time as normal. Should be back on track soon...

Bards and Bloodragers do a rather different function then a wizard or bloodrager. Area effect damage if nothing else is something that we would lack mightily plus all of the utility arcane spells. Bards can do some cool stuff. I have almost no arcane might as a bloodrager though.

I would like to see stealth be an option just because it seems like it never is. I plan to be at about +5 to stealth in my fullplate. Its not amazing but with distance, darkness and a bit of luck I can get past people. I am not sure if everyone else is planning on putting points into stealth though.

Tarondor, Shaman is allowed but Witch is not? Is that right?

Tarondor, Shaman is allowed but Witch is not? Is that right?

That might only be because I haven't looked closely at the shaman. I detest the witch's no-save debuffs. Not only are they the "easy button" in a large party, but they force a lot of math on an already overburdened GM. I'm willing to bet the witch's designer doesn't actually GM many games.

Guess I better take a closer look at the shaman.

Did I mention I detest the witch?

Like really, really loathe the witch?

Thanks for the tips! I definitely will rely heavily on ranged weapons for combat damage, rather than spells. I'm probably going to go with a gun (I've been reading a lot of steampunk lately so I'm psyched for a slightly higher tech level.) And I've committed my feats to ranged combat so I can be moderately successful with it.

Also, a side note on stealth: as a gnome with decent dex, I think I have +10 in stealth without trying very hard so I'm on board with an all stealth party. On the flip side, I don't want to pressure anyone who has a harder time with it to spend too many of their resources trying to make themselves stealthy. It would be a lot of fun if it worked out though.

Andrew, I can shoot you some cool wizard builds, if you'd like to see them.

Just please don't do the 1-level dip into crossblooded sorcerer. Super cheesy.

But better than the witch.

Bards and Bloodragers do a rather different function then a wizard or bloodrager. Area effect damage if nothing else is something that we would lack mightily plus all of the utility arcane spells. Bards can do some cool stuff. I have almost no arcane might as a bloodrager though..

Agreed. The power of the wizard is in its access to more spells than any other arcane caster. Also, unlike the bard, it is a full 9-level caster. Want to see teleport in this campaign? Probably want a wizard. I don't know how much of The Banewarrens Tim remembers from 10 years ago, but I guarantee he remembers how useful teleport was in the closing scenes of the story (because he failed three "on target" rolls in a row...)

Sorcerer is easier to play but its limited palette of tools can get repetitive after awhile. Wizard has more bookkeeping and fewer spells per day, but many more options out of combat.

Jamey, another route you could go to support people nearly every round is to focus on the "Aid Another" action. There are some feats and traits that can enhance that action. Typically you need to threaten the space to do it, but Bards get whip proficiency for free and that has a 15 foot reach. So you could be distracting opponents with the whip to help someone land a hit, or making it harder for an opponent to hit someone because of cracking the whip in their face. You do very little damage yourself, but you continue to make everyone better (which fits generally with a bard).

Thanks for the tips! I definitely will rely heavily on ranged weapons for combat damage, rather than spells. I'm probably going to go with a gun (I've been reading a lot of steampunk lately so I'm psyched for a slightly higher tech level.) And I've committed my feats to ranged combat so I can be moderately successful with it.

Gnomes and gunpowder? I am excited to be part of this plan!

Tarondor: thanks, I wouldn't do Crossblooded sorceror! My main reason for going Sorceror over Wizard is bookkeeping; I know for a fact it would slow me down so don't want to do that in an online game.

The reason I ask about Shaman is that it is a Witch/Oracle hybrid class. It gets hexes as well.

I'll build something with good Stealth capabilities.

Scott, please let me know if I should go ahead with the shaman or not. The hexes seem like they are pretty similar to the witch, so I am suspecting not.

Will do, Nick.

Andrew, the cheese to which I was referring was an evoker wizard with a 1-level dip in cross-blooded sorcerer (dragon/orc blood) to get you the absolute maximum in evocation damage. It didn't sound like your sort of character, but I like to get out in front of these train wrecks, because I feel bad walking them back after the fact.

Like really, really loathe the witch?

Rashid says hi.

There are hexes which do not have an effect if you save. That's mostly Evil Eye. But save-or-suck effects are most of the hexes. You could build around Fortune, Misfortune, and Healing hexes and be much more manageable.

I posted my character in my alias file. I based it on your characters so hopefully everything looks good.

Looks good, Thomas. One more thing. Please go to the campaign info tab and check out the "Your Stat line" spoiler.

(Jamey here, having changed my avatar to match my character)
Scott - I have ranks in Craft(Firearms) and a master tool set. I'd love to have a self-crafted gun. Is that okay?

Sure. But your initial equipment costs full price, even if you crafted it.

Jamey, which social skills does your character (Velika) have? I will take a few ranks in one or two, so will make sure we have all three covered and a bit of overlap.

I am pretty intimidating for what it's worth.

Jamey, which social skills does your character (Velika) have? I will take a few ranks in one or two, so will make sure we have all three covered and a bit of overlap.

I am an excellent bluffer and a decent diplomat. I'm not particularly intimidating.

On a different note, as you might expect for a bard, I have a lot of knowledge skills (Arcana, Dungeon, Engineering, Local, Planes, Religion). I can use all knowledge skills untrained but those are the ones I put points in. Engineering and Local are particular to the character so I'll keep those, the rest are just useful so depending on what others are good at, I could change some of those up.

Sure. But your initial equipment costs full price, even if you crafted it.

Right, that makes perfect sense given the purpose of starting money. I just really want my gun to be customized (appearance-wise).

Scott, how notable are our characters in Ptolus at 4th level?

Nick, can I steal your idea of an ex-gladiator for my Investigator? He'll also a Litorian

Scott mentioned Knowledge History and Religion come up often. I of course have neither. :P

Tim, help yourself to the ex-gladiator background. But I think Scott said that only one character could be a Litorian.

Correct. No more than one litorian or Harrow elf in the party.

To be clear, that's "or", not "and".

Scott mentioned Knowledge History and Religion come up often. I of course have neither. :P

A lot of history and religion will definitely come up, though of course many skills will be useful.

Scott, how notable are our characters in Ptolus at 4th level?

At 4th level, you've just begun to make a name for yourselves (presumably among the Delvers, though we haven't worked out that joint background yet). A few people in the know will have heard of you. If you look at the list of NPCs on the Campaign Info tab, some are listed as "friends of the party".

Just a thought. If you're not already familiar with them, you'll want to know the concept of "background skills", because they're in play in this game and will amount to extra skill points for you

​Nick:

I was thinking about shamans mostly for their spirits and not really considering their hexes. Here's the combination that made me hate witches:

Round 1: Witch hits Big Boss with Evil Eye. Big Boss is -4 to all saves (at 8th level).

Round 2: Everyone delays until the Witch has gone. Witch hits Big Boss with Misfortune. No save. Big Boss must now reroll any successful saves. Party wizard hits Big Boss with powerful spell. Big Boss saves at -4. If he makes the save, he must save again.

So the Big Boss, who might have saved against the wizard's powerful spell (let's say 70% of the time) and lived long enough to be interesting or memorable instead has a 25% chance to be interesting. For one more round. But most likely he's a joke.

And that's every fight throughout the entire adventure. Like listening to one sour "Waaa-waaa!" on a kazoo. Every fight. And there's no limit to how often he can do it. Once per day would be alright, but he can do it every round of every day without any loss of resources.

Now imagine I made your character uninteresting every round of every fight. How long would you retain interest in the game? Let me tell you that it can quickly wear away your desire to continue.

So.... I don't care for witches. :-)

Which leads me to the shaman. There's a lot to love about the class. But this simple combination of fun-killing hexes really ruin it for me. I removed the magus for similar reasons (in PFS, I'm constantly -not- doing everything my magus can do, just to make sure other players get a chance for the limelight). And it's no accident that monks are required to be the Unchained variety after watching a Zen Archer monk make every fight trivial for an entire AP.

I'm sure there are other overpowered combinations everywhere in this game, but this is one to which I'm sensitive.

So... I'm inclined to rule out shamans, but if something else about the class grabs you, I'm willing to make an exception for you, provided those two hexes are out.

Scott

Ok. I suspected that would be the case. Mostly what I liked about the Shaman was the flavor and the spirit animal. I'm sure I can map the flavor onto an oracle or cleric without much problem. I'll see if I can reasonably get a "spirit animal" with one of those classes by adding a familiar or animal companion somehow (a feat perhaps)

To be clear, you CAN play a shaman.

Alternately, the Spirit Guide oracle archetype gets the shaman spirits. And the hunter class gets a druid's animal companion. So does a Druid. :-)

Jamey, another route you could go to support people nearly every round is to focus on the "Aid Another" action. There are some feats and traits that can enhance that action. Typically you need to threaten the space to do it, but Bards get whip proficiency for free and that has a 15 foot reach. So you could be distracting opponents with the whip to help someone land a hit, or making it harder for an opponent to hit someone because of cracking the whip in their face. You do very little damage yourself, but you continue to make everyone better (which fits generally with a bard).

Just a thought. Anyone thinking of making Aid Another a basic part of their build would do well to consider the Helpful trait (+2 becomes +3).

Or the Helpful halfling race trait (+2 becomes +4).

To be clear, you CAN play a shaman.

Understood, but I think I will be going with an Oracle with the Streets mystery.

That. Is. AWESOME!

I don't think I've ever taken note of the Streets mystery before, but it's perfect for Ptolus. I think you'll get a lot out of it. I particularly like the one where rats become your divination spell. Cool!

I particularly like the one where rats become your divination spell. Cool!

Yes, that is one of the 3 revelations on my short list to start with.

I sent you an email with some thoughts on getting a spirit animal.

OK, Scott, except for background info, my character is built into my alias. I might change a knowledge skill to fit the party needs but otherwise I think it's good to go.
One thing I forgot to ask: I purchased a permit for a firearm per Ptolus tech rules but it does say that these things are notoriously hard to get due to the bureaucracy. So is it okay for me to have the permit or shall I run around with an illegal weapon? I'm okay with either!

Looks good, Jamey. A few things: 1) check your spells known. You have some 1st and 0-level spells listed as second. 2) you have the definitions of Point Blank Shot and Precise Shot reversed. 3) Please go to the campaign info tab and check out the "Your Stat line" spoiler.

As I think of it, make sure you know the difference between the -4 penalty for firing into melee (removed by Precise Shot) and the unrelated -4 penalty for your target having cover (unaffected by Precise Shot.)

I'm still ruminating on the license.

Can everyone please have their characters ready and posted within 48 hours? That's the morning of Thursday the 17th.

Thanks. Let's get this thing underway while the energy and excitement are still there. The waiting is killing me!

Andrew, Tim and Nick. Could I get a status update?

Working on Dain now. Only major things left are picking my known spells and buying equipment. Probably the biggest step left is actually posting the stat block.

Looks good, Jamey. A few things: 1) check your spells known. You have some 1st and 0-level spells listed as second. 2) you have the definitions of Point Blank Shot and Precise Shot reversed. 3) Please go to the campaign info tab and check out the "Your Stat line" spoiler.

As I think of it, make sure you know the difference between the -4 penalty for firing into melee (removed by Precise Shot) and the unrelated -4 penalty for your target having cover (unaffected by Precise Shot.)

Jamey: another question. Is Exotic Weapons Proficiency (firearms) an actual gnome race trait? I remember agreeing to it for a Grailwarden Dwarf, but I'm not sure where it comes from in regards to gnomes.

Jamey: another question. Is Exotic Weapons Proficiency (firearms) an actual gnome race trait? I remember agreeing to it for a Grailwarden Dwarf, but I'm not sure where it comes from in regards to gnomes.

I assumed it was also for Gnomes (replacing Gnome Weapon Proficiency and Hatred) since it was in the same doc.

GM Tarondor wrote:

Can everyone please have their characters ready and posted within 48 hours? That's the morning of Thursday the 17th.

Thanks. Let's get this thing underway while the energy and excitement are still there. The waiting is killing me!

Andrew, Tim and Nick. Could I get a status update?

Sorry, I should have been clearer earlier. I can't be ready by tomorrow night, I'd need until at least the weekend. I was busy most of yesterday evening, just got in tonight now, and tomorrow I have a conference which will eat up the evening as well. Friday evening I may be able to get something done, Saturday/Sunday daytime I probably won't.

I'm also away from Weds 23rd to Sun 27th and won't have computer access so won't be able to post. I understand if this makes me too late to participate this time.

Ok, I'm done building Dain - a half elf Oracle of the Streets. I will begin entering his stat block shortly.

Here's Tilver, an ex-gladiator searching for his brother who was taken by the Surgeon in the Shadows.

Dain's stat block is posted now - I just need to put up his background and his raccoon's stats.

Sorry, I should have been clearer earlier. I can't be ready by tomorrow night, I'd need until at least the weekend. I was busy most of yesterday evening, just got in tonight now, and tomorrow I have a conference which will eat up the evening as well. Friday evening I may be able to get something done, Saturday/Sunday daytime I probably won't.

I'm also away from Weds 23rd to Sun 27th and won't have computer access so won't be able to post. I understand if this makes me too late to participate this time.

Okay, Andrew. Give me a name and a class, then, so we can fit you into the story. Catch up on Friday if you can.

Here's Tilver, an ex-gladiator searching for his brother who was taken by the Surgeon in the Shadows.

Tim:

Please go to the Campaign Info tab and read the "Your Stat Line" spoiler.